Chapter 12
Chapter 12
“Divine power?”
Elena asked, her face paling.
“I… well, it’s usually something that removes fatigue or …”
Anna, who had gone nearly as pale as she to avoid being outdone, answered immediately. She had a bad feeling about the mood.
“It’s a power that heals wounds …”
The reason Anna had been able to endure a schedule that pushed human limits was because of divine power.
For a long time Anna had secretly used this power only for herself. But one day on the battlefield, on a sudden impulse and without any rational restraint, Anna had once healed a foreign soldier. His repeated cries at the brink of death were for a little daughter named ‘Anna.’
It was an ordinary name common enough to catch on someone’s foot, nothing special, but Anna couldn’t pass him by. If she hadn’t heard it she might have walked on, but now that she knew, she couldn’t steal a foreign girl Anna’s chance at parental love.
And, of course, she had been severely scolded, so afterwards she stopped using her divine power on others.
‘Hiding it didn’t really mean it stayed hidden, either.’
Rumors that the Princess of Firma had mercifully healed a soldier spread slowly by word of mouth. Thus another page of legend was filled.
For Anna, it was also a clear lesson in the effect of divine power. In the end it hadn’t been a loss. It had helped her secretly heal her body and keep going.
“Healing.”
Even so, Elena looked suspicious.
A man with an eagle’s head hurried over to her side. Elena began speaking with him quietly enough that Anna couldn’t hear.
“If you don’t mind, Princess. Could you try using that power on me now?”
At last the eagle-headed man extended his arm to Anna. He wore a face so serious it seemed he’d resolved something.
Overwhelmed by the atmosphere, Anna swallowed hard. She felt this would have a big impact on how she would be treated in the Demon Lord’s army going forward. She had no idea what purpose this request served.
Anna wanted to show she always did her best, but she was already terrified. She managed to reach out and place her hand on his arm, and a very small circle formed on the man’s arm, matching her timid heart.
“Ugh!”
At that instant, with his groan, smoke rose. Feathers that had covered his arm fell in a neat circle exactly where Anna’s power had appeared. Anna immediately pulled her hand away.
“Oh my, oh my, what have I done! I’m sorry!”
She had pulled back so violently in fright that the chair she’d been sitting on nearly tipped.
‘Eek!’
Anna gritted her teeth and braced for impact with the floor. But she did not fall. Something warm, like a breeze, wrapped around Anna’s body.
“Are you all right? You must’ve been really startled.”
Elena’s voice sounded strangely awkward. It seemed she had supported Anna’s body with magic.
When Elena waved her hand, Anna’s body and the chair, which had been slanting down and about to meet the ground face-first, snapped back to their original stable angle.
Anna’s cheeks flushed from the strange, amusement-park-like sensation. She knew it wasn’t the time to enjoy it, but honestly she wanted to beg for it to happen again.
“Your divine power is certain.”
Elena spoke a little stiffly. She seemed to be restraining her emotions.
‘Oh my goodness.’
At Elena’s words Anna came back to reality. She saw the feathers that had fallen cleanly, as if cut away.
“W-what should I do? I didn’t expect this to happen. I’m sorry. What can I do …”
Anna grabbed the eagle-headed man’s hand desperately. He gently loosened her fingers and smiled.
“It’s fine. It was only a little sting.”
He slowly stroked the round bare patch on his arm as if checking a spot of hair loss.
Where the divine power had touched and the skin was exposed, it looked perfectly like human flesh. He tried to hide the hole with the lush feathers on the other side, but it only looked somewhat pitiful.
“I asked this of you. Princess, you bear no responsibility.”
Even with his kindly voice, Anna felt like crying.
“I’ve never done this before. It’s not an ability meant to hurt others.”
Anna had always felt great pain even when she struck down enemies she met on the battlefield. Although it was to protect her sister, harming others didn’t suit her temperament at all. Moreover, the eagle-headed man was not an enemy. If she joined the Demon Lord’s army, he might become a comrade.
‘To have hurt such a person.’
Elena squinted one eye and regarded Anna.
“You’re far too soft-hearted to join the army, aren’t you?”
“Huh? Oh, no!”
Anna set her fist back on her thigh and straightened her waist.
“Absolutely not. That was just…”
She scrambled to choose an excuse.
Setting aside whether it was divine power or rude behavior, it would be bad to be judged as someone whose personality made her unfit for the army.
Anna knew she was someone who wished for peace. She wasn’t a bloodthirsty person, and things like glory in war belonged to another world. But now, to secure a successful job, she had to deceive herself a little.
‘I am the superhuman the company wants, who possesses every quality you seek.’
She kept repeating that mantra to herself like an affirmation. After all, the Demon King’s army wasn’t necessarily going to wage war all the time.
“I was just so shocked because I never imagined a comrade’s divine power could hurt someone. I’ve spent more than half my life on battlefields. You can rest assured about my character.”
“Fine then.”
Elena waved her hand as if annoyed. For something that had made Anna so tense, her reaction was disappointingly trivial.
“But rather …”
Elena propped her chin on her hand and regarded Anna gently.
“It seems research into divine power hasn’t been conducted deeply even on this continent?”
“Huh? Is that so?”
Anna only knew that divine power was a power passed down in the Firma royal family. She also only knew its effects gained through living, healing and stabilization.
“It might well be so.”
As it was a secretive ability, she guessed it had never been a subject of research.
“Records about the relationship between divine power and the demons also seem not to exist.”
As for any connection to demons … it had been a long time since they had left traces on the continent, so there probably had been no related investigations, but Anna answered after considering various possibilities.
“As far as I know, that’s true, but maybe I just wasn’t taught.”
“We’re both lacking information then.”
Elena began to breathe sharply.
“In this demon realm, there are only very, very old records that say divine power acts fatally against demons.”
Her voice grew more intense.
“The records are almost as old as the time the Demon King ascended. So this is the first time we’ve seen a human with divine power.”
She pronounced each word carefully and even began to tremble.
Anna couldn’t guess why she was so agitated.
‘Divine power is bad for demons. Did she get angry because I bragged about it?’
Anna felt a chill at Elena’s inexplicable behavior.
‘It’s late, but I guess I’ll end up in prison after all.’
Anyone belonging to the Firma royal family can use divine power. That was a fact known across the continent. But Anna had never seen the king or other family members actually use their power to heal someone.
Under the belief that ‘the hands of royalty must not be sullied,’ using divine power was treated as secretive as a noblewoman showing an ankle. When Anna had saved that foreign soldier out of pity and been beaten for it, it wasn’t only because her knightly mindset was wrong.
[“How dare you flaunt royal power to the world!”]
What enraged the royal family wasn’t that she had saved a mere soldier’s life, but precisely that she had shown royal power to the public.
From the start, the royal family would have been ashamed that Anna could use divine power.
How dare someone lowly step into our domain.
They might not have said it outright, but that was their sentiment. So they refused even to mention or teach that power.
Anna had never heard anything about it being used to easily subdue demons.
“I’m sorry. I was stupid and knew nothing.”
One of the few talents she had been vaguely proud of turned out to be a power that could injure others.
As gloom soaked her heart, Elena suddenly thrust her face close. Her glasses flashed brightly in front of Anna’s eyes.
“It’s not your fault. We can learn what we don’t know together!”
Her voice was positively excited.
“Thank you?”
Anna tilted her head slightly, worried she might bump foreheads with Elena.
“So let’s find out. How does divine power operate?”
“R-right here, like this?”
Whether Anna was surprised or not, Elena picked up a pen and paper. She intended to write down Anna’s words.
Unable to avoid Elena’s sharp gaze, Anna only drew her neck as far back as she could. Her face, with a double chin, must have looked quite embarrassing, but Elena did not back down.
“Well, um. If I decide to use it, it simply comes out.”
Anna lowered her eyes, helpless. Her well-formed manner of speaking dissolved.
“Hmm, so it’s part of normal bodily activity, like breathing.”
In a sense, yes. How one opens and closes their eyes, how one clenches a fist and grasps an object, Anna had no way to explain it, having not studied medicine.
……
T/N: They’re sooo cute